A Murder and its Afterlife
by Lady StarrLight
Summary: What happened to Nessarose Thropp? How did a house just magicly fall atop her? And how did the ones she love feel about this? The only question is: What is the truth? Moments before, during and after her infamous death.
1. Author's Note

First and foremost, I do not own Wicked. End of story. Also, almost everything that Boq, Nessa, and Elphaba **SAY/SING **(I didn't say think!) in the prologue is taken directly from the Wicked script (See, no plagiarism involved!). I'm sorry; I had to set a base so my story wouldn't be confusifying to the lesser Wicked Fans. I know all you die-hard Wicked fans know what happens. But, read the prologue, it might surprise you. Please do not steal any part of this story. I own it for the most part. Alright! The stage is set, the curtains are drawn, let the story begin!

Enjoy.

With Love, **Lady StarrLight**


	2. Prolouge

Nessarose Thropp quietly sipped her tea Boq had given her. Even though it tasted horrid, she took any chance for Boq to be around her; even if that meant he had to be her servant.

"Will there be anything else, Madame?" he said formally as she set down her tea.

"I've asked you to call me Nessarose, remember?" she replied.

"Yes, Madame," was all he said, then he gave a curt, formal bow as he exited, leaving Nessa all alone.

"Boq…" she called quietly, but he was gone.

She hated her life. She didn't like to be governor of Munchkinland, though that's what she dreamed of all her life. It had its perks; the power, the authority, but Boq seemed to hate her for it, not love her. And she hated how he was so distant, and formal to her.

_I deserve it, _she thought._ Passing laws to make him stay doesn't make him love me they way he used to. _But she knew deep down that was a long time ago.

She slowly picked up her hand mirror, locking eyes with her reflection. She had become so vain! She set down her hand mirror on her dining table then wheeled herself to her armoire so she could look at her self fully within the mirror upon it._ Sometimes I can't recognize the girl looking back at me, _she thought, gazing into the eyes of the girl looking back.

Her reflection started to change becoming the strange pearly green parlor of her sister's. Nessa quickly checked her hands to see if the skin color had changed as it had in the mirror. Her hands had not changed as it had in the mirror. Her reflection started to morph into the form of her sister.

"Well it seems the beautiful just get more beautiful," a voice from within the armoire spoke, "While the green just get greener."

Nessa gasped in horror, thinking she was going mad because she was seeing and hearing her sister in the mirror so suddenly. She wheeled back in shock, fumbling with her wheels, trying to get away.

Her sister, Elphaba, emerged from the armoire, scaring Nessa even more.

"I'm sorry did I scare you? I seem to have that effect on people…" Elphaba said nonchalantly. She seemed to be taking in the sight of her sister whom she hadn't seen in years. "It's good to see you."

Nessa finally realized her sister was truly standing before her, Oz knows how she got in her armoire. "What are you…doing here?" Nessa managed to choke out.

"Well there's no place like home." she replied, gathering her nerve. "I never thought I hear myself say this but… I need father's help. I need him to stand with me."

"That's impossible-"

"No, it isn't! Not if you ask him! He'll do it for you, Nessa. You know he will. And-"

"Father's dead." Nessa whispered, which silenced her sister.

"What?" Elphaba replied off-guard.

"He's dead. I'm the governor now." Nessa said waiting for a reply from her sister. When none came she said, "Well what did you expect? After he learned what you'd done, how you disgraced us, becoming this…this, _**WITCH**_, he died. He died of shame. Embarrassed to death!"

Elphaba turned away struggling to absorb this. She suddenly turned back to her sister. "Good. It's better this way," she spit.

"That's a _**WICKED**_ thing to say!"

"No, it's just true because now it's just us! You can help me and together-"

"Oh, Elphaba, SHUT UP!" Nessa screamed. "First of all, I can't harbor a fugitive. I'm an unelected official. And why should I help YOU? You fly around Oz trying to rescue Animals you've never even met, and not once have you ever thought to use your powers to rescue me!

"All of my life I've depend on you, how do you think that feels? All of my life I've depended on you and this hideous chair with wheels! Scrounging for scraps of pity to pick up, and longing to kick up my heels…"

"Nessa," Elphaba cried, "There isn't a spell for everything! The power is mysterious; it's not like cobbling up a pair of ….shoes." She immediately looked away from Nessa then franticly searched her satchel trying to find something Nessa had only heard of in myths, The Grimmerie, an ancient book of spells. Elphaba pulled a funny green book, which Nessa did not know was indeed the Grimmerie, out of her bag and quickly searched its pages. When she finally found what she was searching for, she quickly kneeled on the ground and started to chant funny words and flail her arms in odd ways.

Nessarose sat in her chair dreading what her sister was doing. She had all ways feared her sister's power though she all ways longed for her sister to use it to help her. Nessa suddenly felt a burning pain in her feet, one like no other that she had ever experienced.

"My shoes!" she screamed, "They feel like they're on fire!" She tried fanning her shoes, which had started to glow a blood red, trying to put out this invisible fire. "What did you do to my shoes!" she screamed at Elphaba.

These shoes meant the world to her, the last present her father had ever given her. She received them on the first day at Shiz University; they where a beautiful sliver color and encrusted with rare Ozian jewels that where only found in Quadling country. She truly loved them. The next time she saw her father was on his death bed, dying of shame. And now her shoes had a spell on them, something her father would never approve of, and there was nothing she could do about it.

The fire suddenly ceased in Nessa's feet, but her relaxation did not last long. Her left foot suddenly lunged out of her wheelchair, her right foot fallowing. Nessa was so afraid that she was possessed; she didn't stop to think about that was the first movement her legs had made since she was born. Before she had recovered from the shock, her left foot shot out again, jerking her into a standing position. Nessa gasped in shock, and then tried to take a step with this new ability. She fell over, of course, because she had never walked before. Elphaba rushed over to her sister offering to help her up.

"No! Don't help me!" Nessa snapped. Then, out of sheer force of will, she managed to haul herself up into a standing position and take her first few steps, effortlessly.

'Oh, Nessa, at last! I've done what long ago I should, and finally from these powers something good! Finally something good!" Elphaba speaks as she waits in beathless anticipation for her sister to embrace her. For a moment it seems as she will, but she moves past her, calling for her servant.

"Boq- Boq! Come here at once!" Nessarose called then got back into her wheelchair.

"Boq…? Wait! Nessa! No one must know I'm here-"But suddenly Boq is at the door way.

"Yes, what is it, Madame Gov-" Boq said before he realized Elphaba was standing before him. "You!" Boq screeched then grabbed a letter opener to defend himself.

"Boq, wait," Elphaba said, backing away. "It's just me. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're lying! That all you do! You and your sister! She's just as _**WICKED**_ as you!"

"Boq!" Nessa said, stunned.

"What are you talking about?" Elphaba said sternly.

"I'm talking about my life, or the little that's left of it!" he exploded, "I'm not free to leave Munchkinland, none of us are! Ever since she took power she's been stripping our rights! And we didn't have that many to begin with! And do you know why?"

"To keep you here with me!" Nessa interpreted. "But none of that matters now, look!" She stood up, out of her chair, smiling hopefully as she walked for him. He dropped the letter opener, in shock.

"You did this for her?" He asked Elphaba.

"For the both of us," Nessa answered.

"Nessa! This changes everything!"

"Yes, I know!"

"Nessa…"

"Yes?" she replied, ever hopeful thinking he was going to tell her he loved her.

"Uh, Nessa- Surely now I'll matter less to you and you won't mind me leaving here tonight…"

"Leaving?"

"Yes- That ball that's being staged announcing Glinda is engaged to Fiyero!"

"Glinda?"

"Yes, Nessa that's right. And I got to go appeal to her express the way I feel for her! Oh, Nessa I lost my heart to Glinda the moment I first saw her. You know that.

"Lost your heart? Well we'll see about that!"

"Nessa, let him go!" Elphaba said trying to stop her sister.

"Did you think I'd let you leave me here flat? You're going to lose your heart to _ME_, I tell you! If I have to- I have to- magic spell you!" She snatched the book of spells from Elphaba, leafed through it, and then started to chant as her sister did before.

"Ah toom... Tah-take?"

"Nessa! Stop! It's dangerous!"

"Ah toom core tum!"

"What's she doing?" Boq questioned fearfully.

"You're pronouncing the words all wrong!" Elphaba yelled urgently.

"I'm warning you," Boq said, backing away, "Don't try to stop me, or-" He suddenly had no more air in his body. He clutched his chest in pain hoping that would stop the word from spinning around him.

"Oh no… Nessa…" Elphaba sighed softly.

Nessa ceased chanting only because Boq almost toppled on top of her. "Boq, what's wrong?"

"My _heart_! It feels- It feels like it's- _shrinking_…" he managed to choke out before he fell over into Nessa wheelchair in a faint. Nessa rushed over to his side shrieking at Elphaba to do something, anything.

"I can't do anything, Nessa!" was her reply. "You can't reverse a spell once it's been cast!"

"Then what will we do?" Nessa cried, tears streaming down her face now.

Elphaba grabbed the Grimmerie from Nessarose then pushed Boq behind the armoire, out of the way.

"This is all your fault!" Nessa screamed at Elphaba. "If you hadn't shown me that horrendiable book…"

"Hush, will you? I've got to find another spell! It's the only thing that might work…" she pushed the wheel chair out from behind the armoire then started to chant over it.

Nessa started to sing, maybe to the Unknown God, or at least anyone who would listen to her miserable pleas. "Save him, please just save him. My poor Boq, my sweet, brave him. Don't leave me till my sorry life has ceased. Alone and loveless here, with just the girl in the mirror! Just her and me! The _**WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST!**_ We deserve each other…"

Elphaba walk up to Nessarose breaking her from her trace. "He's asleep." She said quietly.

"What about his heart?" Nessa pleaded.

"It's all right… he wouldn't need one now." She said as she slowly picked up her spell book and broomstick. "I have to go. I have unfinished business in the Emerald City." Elphaba turned and starts off.

"Elphaba!" Nessa said in panicked desperation. "Please! Don't leave me!"

Elphaba pauses only to say, "Nessa… I've done everything I could for you. And it hasn't been enough. And nothing ever will be." Before she could stop herself, she walked over to her sister and tenderly touched her cheek. And finally, after meeting her sister's eyes for the last time, she turns and leaves.

"Elphaba, wait! Elphaba!" Nessa called though her sister was already gone.

A rustling sound broke the eerie silence fallowed by Boq's voice.

"Where am I? What happened?" his voice asked with a metallic edge to it. Nessarose quickly pulled herself together and made sure she looked nice before she answered him.

"Nothing, you just- fell asleep, and-" but she was cut off by her own gasp of horror as Boq rose form the wheelchair transformed into a man entirely made of tin.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He asked panicked. Boq examined himself and started to scream. He tried to shake of his metal exterior but it was no use.

"It wasn't me, I swear! It was her! I tried to stop her! Boq, please, I still-"

But he never heard her because he was clumsily running out of the mansion, continuing to scream.

And not knowing what to do, Nessarose Thropp stood there and screamed-


	3. Chapter 1: The Murder

"It was Elphaba, Boq! It was Elphaba!" she screamed.

Her cry rang through the halls of the governor's mansion in Munchkinland. She fell to the floor weeping, not able to comprehend Boq leaving her. Her sister leaving her, everyone leaving her.

"No, no…" she sobbed. "This can't be happening…" Her life was over and she knew it. She never wanted _this._ She never _wanted_ to be governor. She never _wanted_ her sister to be an outlaw or stain her family's good name. All she wanted was Boq. Without Boq, her world was crashing down.

Her thoughts drifted to the knife on the table. _Yes, that's how I can escape…_ She slowly picked herself up and walked unsteadily to her table. As she picked up the small, gleaming knife, the only thing separating her from life and death, she glanced at the mirror upon the armoire. She didn't recognize the girl staring back at her._ It must be a trick of the light,_ she thought. Though she knew deep inside that girl was the Wicked Witch of the East and she was eating up what was left of Nessarose Thropp. _This is happening to that girl,_ she thought laughing to herself. _Not me._ She chucked the knife at the mirror, loving the way it shattered. Loving the way that girl was gone.

_I have to find him!_ Nessa thought as soon as she came back to herself. She quickly scribbled a note to Boq explaining where she had gone if he came back while she was looking for him. As soon as she finished, she threw the note down on the floor, not caring as in landed among the glass shards, not noticing the knife had slit her palm, and ran for the door. When she finally reached the door, it was a challenge for her to open it because she was unaccustomed to the weight of the door.

When she finally opened the door, she was a sight to see. Her eyes red from crying but wild with fear and rage, her hair falling out of the once pristine bun. But, she cared nothing of her appearance. Her focus was finding Boq.

She looked all around her, seeing no gleam of tin in the sun-light. She took off running for the first time in her life. But she didn't care. She had to find him. Nessa ran around the town searching every corner for Boq and scaring munchkins when she tried to ask them if the had seen Boq. Yet, they all hid from her, locking their doors and slamming their shutters, thinking that could keep her away.

Now she was truly alone.

"Boq..." she called hoarsely. "Boq!" she tried to yell, thinking he would come to her. "Boq, Boq… Oh, Boq! Where are you?" she said starting to cry.

_It isn't my fault, _she thought. _It would have never happened if it weren't for Elphaba. __**Wicked **__Elphaba._ The sister who ran off, flying around Oz, helping animals that she never knew. The girl who stained the Thropp's good name. The one who caused her father to die of shame, making her governor. The sister with the book of spells that made Boq's heart shrink. The sister who turned Boq into a man of tin. The sister who deserted her.

_Sister, ha! What kind of sister was she?_ thought Nessa. _She's not any sister to me._

The sky suddenly grew dark and the wind picked up. It lifted her skirts up around her making her look as if she were an evil sorceress. Was she? But, that thought did not linger very long because the wind was starting to lift her off the ground.

She fought to stay afoot as she started franticly looking for shelter from the on coming storm, pounding on doors of scared munchkins, screaming for help. The sky started to pour, the rain mixing with the tears on her face. When she finally gave up hope of anyone sheltering her, she fought the wind to reach the town square. She stood in the middle of the town square; right in the center of the swirling vortex of the mixing red and yellow brick roads. She whirled around looking for something, anything that may help her. She had no such luck.

Then she saw it.

A small farm house, twirling around in the middle of the twister. And it was coming right at her.

She franticly tried to move out of the twister's path, but her feet just would not respond. She cried for help though she knew it was useless. The house was flying right at her.

"Boq, my love…" she whispered to the air. The house was inches from her face.

She screamed.

_**Crash!**_

Darkness.


	4. Chapter 2: The Promise

The Tin Man walked alone in the deserted halls of the governor's mansion. The halls brought back terrible memories of servitude, of being held against his will to stay; of losing his heart. But, he wouldn't dwell on that for long.

He listened to the lonely echo his tin body made as he walked through the halls. He could almost still hear another echo still ringing; the last thing Nessa ever said to him. It still haunted him to this day.

He still had not the slightest idea why he came back to that ghastly place, though he knew no one would mind. There wasn't ever going to be an un-elected official ever again in Munchkinland after what Nessa had done, or, at least not for a long while. He came because the mansion just seemed to beckon him, telling him to wander the halls one last time.

One room at the end of the hall caught his eye. The floor was covered in shattered glass, from what he could tell, that came from the armoire in the corner. Nessa's armoire. He felt almost like he should feel an emotion, but, after all he was heartless.

Other then the broken mirror, the room was clean. The table was still neatly set for its owner who would never return, the wood floor perfectly polished. The only other imperfect thing was a broken tea cup near the table. The very one he brought to Nessa before Elphaba showed up that awful night. He didn't want to think about that night. The spell is irreversible. He was going to be a tin man forever.

As he looked among the shards of glass, he found a knife with dried blood on the blade. _She must have cut herself,_ he thought. Memories of Nessa were flooding back now, and he couldn't take the emotions of his former life. He was just leaving when he stepped on a tattered piece of paper hiding among the shattered glass. When he picked it up to read it, he painfully realized it was a letter in Nessa's hand. And the letter was to him.

Dearest Boq,

If you find this, you must know that I am out looking for you to attempt to right my wrongs. Though you may never forgive me for what I have done to you, I must try. I always loved you, Boq, ever since you asked me to dance when we were so young. Even though you may love Glinda, I will always be the one how truly loved you. I admit I have been selfish and cruel by passing laws to keep you from leaving me. But, I was lonely you must understand and I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. If you never forgive me, I don' blame you. And if I never see you again Boq, remember this- You are my first and only love and I will love you forever and always.

-Nessa

Boq needed to sit down, take everything in, especially after what he endured last week.

During a terrible storm of wind, sleet, and rain, Boq had tried to take shelter in the near by woods. The storm was strong, and managed to rust him leaving him frozen in the spot he stood for a few days.

A sweet, seemingly innocent farm girl was skipping by with a goofy looking scarecrow and a small dog in tow. The sun-light reflected off of him which had caught her attention. Being the curious thing she is, she decided to examine him without hesitation. He tired to yell at her to get a way from him, but all she could hear was mumbling because his mouth had rusted shut. She kindly oiled him, enabling him to move. He decided to thank her, and told her he must be on his way when she begged him to stay. She told him she was in dire need of company. She explained that she was in Oz by accident, that she came from a place called Kansas, and she was going to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard if he could send her home.

The Emerald City was all Boq needed to hear.

He could go win over Glinda, profess his love to her. He agreed to tag along with the girl. He learned her name was Dorothy Gale and her dog was named Toto. The scarecrow seemed oddly familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he would ever know him from.

As they journeyed, Dorothy told stories of how she had crash landed in her farm house in Munchkinland killing the Wicked Witch of the East. She showed Boq how the kind Glinda had given her the Witch's shoes to protect her on her journey to the Emerald City. She went on to how she loved the way the sliver shoes sparkled. Only when she showed him the shoes he realized the 'Witch' was Nessa.

But, to Dorothy, he was not just 'tagging along'. He was fully fledged her friend to her. She seemed to have away with making 'friends' with odd beings. As proof, they picked up a talking lion on the way. To Boq, the lion seemed a bit cowardly and thus he earned the name The Cowardly Lion. The lion explained why he was that way. He said the Wicked Witch of the West had stolen him from the people who where raising him and how she never let him fight any of his battles when he was young and he was now to afraid to ever try. Though he regretted be raised by her, he was thankful he was still able to talk.

This little trip to the Emerald City became an adventure in the young girl's eyes that tested loyalties and friendships. She practically let herself be kidnapped by Elphaba- no, the Wicked Witch of the West, after the Wizard told him to kill the Witch!

Of course he and the odd crew had to fetch her although they would have rather left her to die in the hands of the witch, but they knew they had to do the right thing. She eventually killed the Witch by the direct result of a bucket of water thrown at the Witch. It was a terrible scene seeing his former friend sinking to the floor crying out in pain as she died. But, there was nothing he could have done.

When the odd crew returned to the Emerald City, there was a huge award ceremony, for them strangely enough, for the killing of the Wicked Witch of the West. These people acted as killing was an honorable thing to do even if they didn't know the one who had died personally. That made Boq sick.

His day became instantly brighter when Glinda showed up to the ceremony. She told Dorothy to click her heels together and wish to go home. Dorothy did as she said and she disappeared right before their eyes leaving only the gleaming slippers in her place. Glinda quickly snatched them and left without a single glance in Boq's direction.

The Scarecrow quickly fled the scene, Oz knows for what purposes, but the Cowardly Loin stayed and let the continuous compliments flow. Now was Boq's chance to win Glinda. With that annoying farm girl gone, he could finally do what ever he wanted without being held back. He searched the entire Emerald City for her, but she could not be found. He finally gave up and left the city.

_It just wasn't meant to be, _he had thought sadly as he trailed down the Yellow-Brick road. Then he came across a group of 'mourners', you could call them, celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. They seemed so overjoyed at this death; it was the Emerald City all over again.

He was just about to leave when over the horizon, a shimmering pink bubble landed right in the center of the 'mourners'. That bubble belonged to none other then Glinda the Good. The crowd was ecstatic that Glinda had come to see them. Boq watched unseen, waiting for the perfect to time talk to Glinda.

The crowd asked questions such as "How dead is she?" or "How does wickedness happen?" Glinda answered them dutifully, but there seemed to be pain in her voice as she answered them. _Does she miss Elphaba?_ Boq thought to himself, though he didn't linger on that thought because he didn't want to miss an opportunity to talk to her.

Then a clear voice of a reporter rang through the noise of the crowd silencing everyone. "Glinda! Is it true you were her friend?" When Glinda could not find words to answer the question, the crowd gasped and started to talk franticly. Glinda tried to silence them by saying that she did know Elphaba, that only their paths had crossed at school.

When they wouldn't buy that, she stared telling the story of the relationship between her and Elphaba, which seemed more like a friendship then people who knew each other. At the end of the story, the crowd got a lot more then they asked for and didn't know if they pitied Elphaba or still believed she was an enemy, but the reporters were in a flurry to get everything down.

Boq had learned a lot from Glinda's story. The story that was never meant for his ears. He finally realized Glinda never loved him or ever would. But more importantly, he learned Nessa hadn't just been killed from a strange twister of nature. She had been murdered.

He stumbled back to Munchkinland, heartbroken, thinking it was best to go back to his homeland. And up until that moment upon readings Nessa's letter, it had all been a blur.

He sat alone in that room in the governor's mansion, not knowing what he felt. Nessa loved him. Glinda did not. She had tried to tell him but he pushed her away. But did he love Nessa? _Yes,_ something inside of him whispered making a crescendo into screamed _YES!_ He did love her! _I guess I always have, _he thought._ Love is about forgiveness._ And he did forgive her for the things that she had done to him because he loved her.

_I guess I do have a heart, _he thought_. _Not the kind that gives you blood, the kind that you loved with.

He ran out of the governors mansion, down the streets only to find him self in some kind of procession; a funeral procession. When he saw the small glass coffin was carrying not a person, but sparkling sliver slippers, he knew this was Nessa's funeral. Glinda must have commissioned for the shoes to be put in the casket, probably her last act of graditution to Nessarose.

There weren't any mourners, just people dutifully coming out of fear she would haunt them in the afterlife. He followed the procession and watched as they slowly lowered the casket into the ground. He had the sudden impulse to scream that those shoes where his, that Nessa would have wanted him to keep them, but he didn't want to disturb Nessa's funeral.

After the casket had been fully buried and the grave digger left, Boq kneeled at the foot of the grave crying. He had to stop himself because his face would rust. He slowly picked himself up to read the head stone. It was a simple black headstone that only had two words engraved on it: _Nessarose Thropp._ No one had bothered to leave any flowers for Nessa, because they were all too happy that she had died. Only he mourned the loss of her.

"Oh, Nessa… I love you." He whispered hoping somehow she could finally hear him say those words. But, what if there was a way? Anything was possible he had learned when he had been turned into a tin man. _That book of spells! _he suddenly thought. _The one that made me tin! It could bring Nessa back!_ And he knew exactly where it was. Luckily, he had listened to Glinda's entire story about Elphaba because it included Elphaba giving the book of spells to Glinda. Now he knew where to find it. And right there he made an oath to Nessa, to all of Oz-

He was going to bring Nessa back, or he would die trying.


End file.
